Soil quality assessments in integrated crop–livestock–forest systems: A review

Integrated crop–livestock–forest is a promising strategy to improve soil quality. It comprises four different integrated farming systems: crop–livestock, crop–forest, forest–livestock and crop–livestock–forest. This work systematically reviewed studies about integrated crop–livestock–forest systems and soil quality. A total of 92 papers were retrieved from the Web of Science—Clarivate Analytics platform, and the following information was analysed: publication year, institution, region of the studied site, type of integrated system, soil type, tillage system, maximum soil depth and the soil quality indicators assessed. Most studies were published in the second half of the 2010s. Brazil is a prominent focus of research about soil quality and integrated crop–livestock–forest systems, with significant contribution from its central and southern regions. The Embrapa was the main publishing institution, present in over one‐third of the studies. Crop–livestock was the most common integrated system, Ferralsols was the most common soil group, and most of the studied soils were clayey. No tillage was the main tillage system. Most studies focused on the topsoil, assessing physical and/or chemical soil quality indicators. More emphasis on biological indicators of soil quality is required, as well as assessments integrating biological, physical and chemical indicators of soil quality. Future works should compare different integrated systems, including assessments deeper in the soil profile, especially in systems with the forest component, and also in sandy and silty soils. Soil quality indicators that have been rarely used should be further tested. Novel indicators should be added to better understand the promotion of soil quality by integrated crop–livestock–forest systems.     

Assessing seed desiccation responses of native trees in the Caribbean

New Forests - Native trees from the Caribbean were tested for seed desiccation responses, by adapting the “100-seed test” protocol. Ninety-seven seed lots of 91 species were collected...     

Prediction of Genetic Gain in Sweet Corn using Selection Indexes

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - The cultivation of sweet corn is expanding in Brazil, but there are serious constraints about the availability of commercial cultivars. The selection of...     

Comparison between vegetation indices for detecting spatial and temporal variabilities in soybean crop using canopy sensors

Precision Agriculture - Crop monitoring through remote sensing techniques enable greater knowledge of average variability in crop growth. Canopy sensors help provide information on the variability...     

Application to soil of disinfectants through irrigation reduces Verticillium dahliae in the soil and verticillium wilt of olive

The application of disinfectants through drip irrigation could be a feasible practice against verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae) of olive. OX-VIRIN (activated peroxide) and OX-AGUA AL25 (quaternary ammonium compounds) are two disinfectants that have shown efficacy against V. dahliae in irrigation water and potential for reducing the disease in young olive plants. In this work, various post-planting application strategies incorporating OX-VIRIN (once a month, or twice a month on alternate or successive weeks) or OX-AGUA AL25 (once a month, or twice a month on alternate weeks) were assessed for their effect on V. dahliae in soil, disease in olive trees, and olive yield, in a 2-year pot-experiment under natural environmental conditions. The disinfectants were injected via metering pumps into a drip irrigation system that irrigated olive trees planted in V. dahliae-inoculated soil. All the application strategies significantly reduced the total inoculum density in soil compared to controls with no disinfectants and noninoculated soil. The microsclerotia density was also significantly reduced in disinfested soils by 73.6–86.8%, depending on the strategy. The symptoms and infection incidence were always lower in treatments subjected to disinfestation. The treatment with OX-AGUA AL25 applied twice a month on alternate weeks most reduced the symptoms (by 53.0%) and colonization index (by 70.8%) with respect to untreated water control. This soil disinfestation also significantly strengthened the symptom remission. Tree growth and production were negatively affected by soil inoculation (reduced by 45.6% and 88.7%, respectively), but not so by disinfectants, which even relieved the reduction in inoculated soils, especially when OX-AGUA AL25 was applied.     

Simulation of over-exploitation of ornamental fish and its consequences for the functional structure of assemblages of Amazonian streams

The consequences of over-exploitation may seriously impair the integrity and functioning of ecosystems. When loss of species is accompanied by the loss of ecological processes, the effects are no longer just taxonomic and may affect the stability of the environments. Ornamental fishing is one of the main economic activities of the middle Negro River. Such activity is directed to a small number of species and has the Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) as the main target species. Given the potential effects this pressure and the lack of information on its consequences, the present study analysed, through simulations, the possible effects of depletion of ornamental fish populations on the functional structure of fish assemblages, represented by functional diversity (FD) and functional redundancy (FR) indexes. We sampled 13 streams exploited by the ornamental fishery, where we collected 4,286 specimens of 110 species, of which 22 were targeted as ornamental fishing. We found that the ornamental species corresponded, on average, to 27.8% of the species and 33.3% of the FD of the assemblages. In a scenario of complete exclusion of ornamental species, local communities would lose 24.6% of the FD and reduce up to 12% of the FR. With these results, it is possible to infer that the local extinction of exploited species would cause negative impacts on the multifunctionality and the resilience of the streams ecosystems. In this way, we emphasise the need for proper management of the ornamental fisheries aiming to the sustainability of the activity and to the conservation of ecosystem functionality.     

An Electrothermochromic Fabric Prepared by Electrodeposition of Polypyrrole on Single Side

An electrothermochromic fabric triggered by electric voltages was prepared by combining the electric heating feature of conductive polypyrrole (PPy) and the temperature-response color-changing feature of thermochromic inks. PPy was deposited selectively on the carbon-coated side of the sailcloth fabric via electrochemical polymerization. Thermochromic inks were painted on the reverse side with white color. The obtained fabric could be heated to about 48 °C and change its color significantly under an applied voltage of 3 V.